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When it became clear to all that the Soviets had the bomb - and Washington was the target - the egg-heads in D.C. decided it was time to disperse various government offices to the suburbs:

"Given any warning at all, the National Security Resources Board now seems confident it can preserve at least a skeleton Government. But as for the run-of-the-mine Federal employee, he'll have to take his chances amid the irradiated rubble. Former acting Civil Defense Director James J. Wadsworth said there'll be no 'taking to the hills' if he can prevent it.'"

"Bluntly, Wadsworth warned: 'It is time we get tough with ourselves... It would be physically impossible to evacuate a modern American city following an Atomic blast..."

Another article about the preservation of government in the event of a Soviet war can be read here...

Click here to read another article about American civil defense from 1953...